July 28 2014

Well Helloooo!

This Summer Heat is really a killer, but time is still flying! This transfer is soon coming to a close! I can't even believe it! We find out this next week about where we are going! I have been in Beautiful Boulder City for SIX MONTHS! I am pretty sure I will be going somewhere else for my last three months.. but you'll have to wait and see!

Last Monday we met with Lou! He is doing so great! We also had an awesome Family Home Evening! We learned a little more about the Pioneer's and played a Pioneer puzzle game! The Slack's hosted it, they are wonderful. We met with Bishop at McDonald's later that night to make plans for our Boulder City Why I Believe Fireside. But before we met him he texted us and asked if we could me at the McDonald's, I thought he met a family in the ward, who's last name is "McDonald" Not the fast food place. Thankfully we got that cleared up before we met him. It was pretty funny.

Tuesday I gave a training in District Meeting about Charity! It was great! I know that it is so important to have Charity as a missionary and even just as a person. I am thankful for Christ's example of Charity! He truly is the greatest! We later met with Lou and taught him about the importance of teaching and learning from others in the gospel! Lou loves learning and it is so fun to teach him because of that. After our lesson, Sister Nichols and I had to drive out to Vegas for a doctors appointment. When we got there they told us that they accidentally scheduled us wrong and that we would have to come back on Friday.. that sure was a long drive for nothing and waste of our miles! We met with the Relief Society President and the Sunday School President, Brother and Sister Woodbury. (Did you know the 215 Highway here in Vegas is named after Brother Woodbury? Pretty cool! Fun Fact!) We shared with them the ward challenge of using the "willing and brief invitation" within the next three days! They accepted and are excited to share the gospel! I am grateful to be serving in such a supportive ward!!

Wednesday we had Caitlyn with us, our recent convert, she is just a ball of sunshine! I love being around her! We had a couple lessons with her! I love hearing her share her testimony! She has grown so much! We also met with Lou again, we shared with him the "Because of Him" Easter video! HE LOVED IT! He said that he wishes everyone in the world could watch this video! What an amazing video it is! Lou is so missionary minded. He told us that he has been talking to his son in California about the gospel and plans to send him a pamphlet and Restoration DVD. He wants his family to know and feel what he is experiencing!

Thursday and Friday we had exchanges and I was with two different Sisters in two different areas in Henderson. It was a long 48 hours! I was grateful to be back in Boulder City by the end, but it was really a great experience!

Thursday I was with Sister Crowe, the day was certainly not normal. Their AC went out the night I got there and we tossed and turned all night trying to sleep in an apartment that was 90 degrees! I thought I might die! We had the opportunity to do some service during the day and had to meet with a repair guy to fix the AC.. we waited and waited the time frame he gave us then we called and he said he wasn't going to make it! It was crazy! We also received some very inappropriate and nasty texts from a man who was very Anti. It was horrible, we blocked his number and hope to never hear from him again. How he got a hold of the sisters number I do not know!

Friday I was with Sister Chevalier. We had quite a few lessons with recent converts and twice we share the video "John Tanner" It is an amazing movie about a man who sacrificed all his wealth, time, and talents to build the Kingdom of God on the Earth. It is so inspiring and makes me want to be better and to sacrifice more! It was neat to see how other wards in the church work with missionaries. I am so grateful to be a missionary!!

Saturday was full of weekly planning, but we did attend a Baptismal Service at the 5th Street Chapel. Lou came with us so he could see what it is like and know what to expect for his Baptism! It really excited Lou even more! The crazy thing that happened on Saturday was our dinner appointment. We walked in and they said we are having a Barbarian dinner! They handed us trash bags and told to make a head and arm wholes, we put our trash bags on sat down at the table. Then the slapped Navajo Tacos with all our toppings on the table and told us "you are not allowed to use your hands to eat or drink, only your mouth" So we began to eat like pigs, literally. It was soooo fun though. We had chilly and sour cream all over our faces. We had ice cream for dessert! It was a mess! I can't wait to do this with the missionaries back home when we feed them! It was awesome and gross! It would make a great diet technique, because you get soooo full on such little food, because it takes you so long to eat it! Sister Lopan called us up and we went over to have fresh homemade bread! Yum! She gave us our own loaf! It was wonderful!

Sunday we had soooo many meetings and our day was packed with finishing weekly planning and preparing for the Why I Believe Fireside! In Gospel Principles we taught about Eternal Marriage and read "The Family: A Proclamation to the World" read it here: https://www.lds.org/ensign/2006/06/the-family-a-proclamation-to-the-world?lang=eng&query=the+family+proc It was a great discussion! Lou was all chocked up as he explained to the group how much he wished he would have had this knowledge and the gospel sooner in his life! He expressed how lucky we all are to have been brought up most our life in the church. He wishes he could have shown his kids this righteous path. He is excited to be able to influence others and share what he now knows! We had dinner with the Hess and the Birds and all their family! Like 20 people! I love Sunday Family Dinners! It was so great! We had our Boulder City Why I Believe Fireside that night! We had a pretty good turn out and so much dessert brought by the members! The Spirit was strong in the meeting! We had 3 amazing convert speakers and 3 outstanding musical number preformed by missionaries! It was fantastic! I am excited to have it continue and build! This will be something Boulder City will continue to do throughout the years to follow!

I am so grateful to be serving here in Boulder City! I love the people and the many lessons I am learning! I am grateful for the support and love I feel from those around me! What a joy it is to share the gospel! Pure joy! I hope you will be able to feel this same joy as you learn and grow in the gospel! What a Blessing!

Love,

Sister Davis

Sister Hope and I... we accidently matched :)

Our district leader, Elder Anderson, is leaving :(

July 21 2014

Helloooo my favorite people!!!!

WOW! This week is just flying by! We only have 2 more weeks of this transfer! I Just can't believe it! We had soooo many lessons this week and the Spirit was so strong in each one of them! It is such a blessing to be a missionary! I wouldn't trade it for the world!!!

Last Monday we met with Lou! He LOVED church! He felt like every talk and speaker was talking right to him! He knows that Heavenly Father is aware of him! It is amazing to see him really recognize that! We also had two lessons that evening and Sister Peterson, the Stake Presidents wife came with us! Both lessons started out really terrible, because the people were fighting with their kids and there was just chaos in the houses. BUT we were able to bring it back to the Spirit and end it on a really positive note! The Spirit really guided our words! I am grateful for that! We also had a wonderful Family Home Evening lesson on gratitude we shared "In The Spirit of Thanksgiving" Mormon message and had a discussion. I just love watching Mormon messages! They are so uplifting and inspiring!

Tuesday was jammed packed! I swear every Tuesday is! We had 10 lessons! It's hard to highlight anything that was really great, because everything was! I just love teaching and baring testimony of what I know and love!! I love this gospel!!!!!

Wednesday we had 9 lessons! It was a packed day as well! On top of our lessons we also had to get our oil changed and have interviews with our New Mission President and his wife! They are so sweet! I can really feel their love when they speak to us! I am glad to have them here! We have a new investigator named Wendell! He is 81 years old! Brother Beekman introduced us and we were able to teach him this evening! He can't really see or hear. We will have to be very creative in how we teach him. If you have any ideas let me know!

Thursday was my 15 MONTH MARK! I can't even believe it! It seems like I just got here! There have been so many wonderful things that I have been able to see and be apart of over these last 15 months! I feel so blessed to be able to serve here! I remember when my trainer, Sister Cardenas hit her 15 month mark! I just can't even believe it.. that was almost 15 months ago! We had some really sweet lessons today! Sister Merrill came with us to teach Lou and then to see Karlee. In both lessons Sister Merrill shared very sweet and sincere stories about her first experiences praying. Both Lou and Karlee really connected with her! Karlee prayed for the first time with us and it was an amazing prayer, she said "and please bless that the sisters will come back soon..." It was the sweetest thing ever!

Friday we had Sister Smyth, a less active lady, come out with us! She connected so well with the people we went to see! I love having members with us! They are a blessing! We met with Bishop to plan our Why I Believe - Boulder City event! It will be this Sunday at 7pm at 916 5th Street! Please Come!!! You are all invited!!!!

Saturday we went to the Temple! It was a wonderful experience! Brother Beekman happened to be there and bought our lunch! I also saw a couple people from my last ward! I love seeing people I know at the Temple!

Sunday we taught Lou about Family History and got him set up to useFamilySearch.org. He is really excited about it! Hopefully we can help him find his family from Germany! We had dinner with the Birds - they are moving August 1st to Utah! It is so sad, but they will only be 10 miles from Provo, so I will get to see them all the time when I am back at school! Karlee drove us to the Why I Believe fireside in Vegas! She brought her 3 month old baby with her and she loved it! Emilee, her little girl, was kind of fussy. But it turned out to be a great event! Karlee is really loving reading the Book of Mormon! She says that she has never liked to read much, but for some reason she just can't put the Book of Mormon down! I know the Spirit is truly testifying to her of this truth!

I really love seeing the changes in peoples lives as they come closer to the Savior. I love seeing the change in my life! I am forever grateful for the lessons that I am learning here and the Spirit that I feel with me! What a joy it is to be a missionary! I hope you all will have the chance to share these precious truths with others and feel the joy that comes as we become more like the Savior! I know He lives and loves us each!

Love,

Sister Davis

 Temple Day!

"I got to go to Josie's Party!!!!!! :) Thanks to Holly and Tawna!"

July 14 2014

Hellooo from Beautiful HOT Boulder City!!!

 

Well my emails are a little mixed up, because I already told you about half of my week last Wednesday when I emailed! So I will start us off with Thursday.

 

We had a great District Meeting, nothing to crazy! Afterwards we went on a half day exchange! I stayed here in Boulder and Sister Cook, one of the sisters I look after came here. We had a great day! It was a lot of fun! We had a great lesson about prayer with the Shattler's and the oldest son even sat in, which was unheard of! We also had an amazing lesson with Lou! Previously we had given him an assignment to pray, read Mosiah 18, write questions and insights, read it again, and then pray to know if what he read was true. He loved what he read! He even went on to LDS.org to look up more references, like the Seminary guide and articles about Mosiah 18! He is amazing! He was teaching us what he learned and I just loved it! We gave him a Baptismal date and he accepted! It will be in August! It is amazing to see how far he has come in just a few months!! I am so grateful to have the great privilege of teaching him! Later we met this girl Ameilia! She was 16 and said she is looking for a church, she has been to a few in town and set an appointment for us to come back! It was such a blessing!!

 

Friday we had weekly planning all day! Then we took Sister Woodbury, the Relief Society President out to a lesson with Emily. The lesson turned into us teaching her dad about the Book of Mormon. He is a less active member, who has never had is own solid testimony. He accepted a reading assignment in the Book of Mormon and to pray about it! We are going to meet with him later on and hopefully be able to help him return to the path and bring his daughter with him. Later on we met up with some other sisters to have a full day exchange. I went to the Lake Mead stake with Sister Hirschi and her companion stayed in Boulder City with Sister Nichols.

 

Saturday we had a few lessons in their area, but one in particular was really amazing! We went to go and contact this guy Larry. He lived in an apartment complex! (I have not been in an apartment complex in 6 months, because we have none in our area her in Boulder City) A cute girl in her 20's answered the door. Her name was Setari. We offered to say a prayer with her and she let us right in. We asked her if Jesus Christ were here, what would you ask him for. She said, "I would ask him why in the world He would die for me or for anyone?" We knelt and offered a prayer we told Heavenly Father about Setari's question and asked him why Christ would do that. An overwhelming Spirit came into the apartment. When we ended the prayer we looked at each other and Setari was in tears! The Spirit really touched her. We shared our testimony of Christ's love for her. We invited her to come to church and meet with us tomorrow. She agreed. I called Sister Hirschi last night and she said the Setari loved church and stayed all three hours! They also had a great lesson after church with her! I know that Heavenly Father placed us there, because He is aware of all his children. He loves us and wants us to always remember that!

 

Sunday we had a great time at church. Lou came and he just fits right in! Everything that was talked about in Sacrament meeting I know was just for him. It was the exact things he had questions about and the speakers were amazing! We taught Sunday School and tailored it to teach Lou about Tithing. The when we talked with him after church he asked if we had told the Priesthood teacher to teach what he did, because it was just what he needed to hear! He has a strong testimony that God knows him and listens to him!! I just love to see how the ward takes care of him. We talked with Lou and the Stake President after church. Lou said, "President Peterson, I have a secret hope that these Sisters, after their through with their missions, will move to Boulder City, so that I can see there future children." He is such a doll, I just love him! We have also been working with Riley a little 8 year old who's grandparents are active, but her parents aren't. She has been coming to church every week and is meeting with the Bishop so she can prepare to be baptized!! She is SO excited!!! We met with them after church! It is so fun to see their whole family get involved in our lessons with her! We had dinner with my very favorite family, the Lopan's! Sister Lopan made homemade noodles, for her homemade chicken noodle soup! It was sooo good! I just love being able to eat at some many different houses. It is always so good!

 

I sure do love being a missionary! It is such a blessing to serve at this time! I know that this is exactly where I need to be! What a joy it is to have that knowledge! I love the tender mercies of the Lord! I was able to see this Mormon Message this week and I just love it! Here's the link! https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2010-03-05-the-tender-mercies-of-the-lord?lang=eng   If it doesn't work just YouTube "Tender Mercies of the Lord" It is amazing! I know Heavenly is aware of us each individually! I am praying for you and am so grateful for the prayers I receive from you! Thank you for your great examples!

 

Love,

Sister Davis

July 9 2014

Hello wonderful family and friends!

Well it has been a pretty wild ride this last week! Last Monday we had all our appointments cancel! It worked out pretty good, because we were able to prep some 4th of July pass along cards. They turned out so cute! The Lopan's helped us stamp and glitter these cute cards! They got soooo into it! I love them!

Tuesday we had appointments every 30 minutes after lunch! We were sooo booked! I loved it! We had a total of 12 lessons! Amazing! We screened Caitlyn for Baptism and she is totally ready, we have her set to be Baptized this Saturday!

Wednesday was a lot like Tuesday totally booked every 30 minutes! 12 more lessons! I spent most of the morning in Missionary Leadership Council! I was one of the first to meet the new Mission President and his Wife, President and Sister Snow! They are very different from the Neiders, but still soooo great! We learned lots of great things, especially why it is important to bring members to lessons. Sometimes we focus more on why it is important for the investigator and not the member. I shared our experience of setting a goal of how many members we want to have out with us each week! The APs LOVED IT! They changed their whole training around setting a goal after my comment! It was so neat! Later on we taught Lou the Word of Wisdom! He grew up on coffee and tea so it will be a test of faith if he will truly be willing to leave it behind. He understands the commitment and that it comes from our Heavenly Father. That is a blessing!

Thursday was our catch up day! We didn't have as many appointments as the past days. We had a great dinner with Sister Slack and her nonmember neighbor, who the young men did service for the other week. It was such a great dinner! We talked about faith and the Spirit was so strong! It is so great when members invite their friends over for dinner!

Friday was the 4th of July! Boulder City does it BIGGGGG! There was a HUGE parade with over 100 Floats! Tons of people to talk to! We also had weekly planning so that took up a lot of our day! We had a BBQ with the Lopan's! Just us and them! It was the best! We joined with their scripture study! The Fireworks in Boulder didn't start until 9pm, and we had to be home by then. We thought we would be able to watch them from our apartment, but because of the angle and the trees it was not so. We heard lots of them! The show went on for 35 minutes straight!

Saturday we had Zone Training Meeting! Sister Stinnett and I gave a training on Diligence! It was the bomb! I love giving trainings! I was able to teach Sister Stinnett how to put a training together. We started off having everyone explain what comes to mind when they think of the word "Diligent". We then had a discuss about what it says in Preach My Gospel about Diligence. After an amazing discussion we asked them all to look in the scriptures and have a few of them share a scripture that helps them to be diligent or reminds them of diligence and why. That was powerful! Then we asked them to think of a time that they lacked diligence and how they over came that. Many tears were shed as they expressed how the gospel and our Savior lifted them to a higher standard. We then watched a clip from "Facing The Giants" the scene is called "The Deathcrawl" (Go on YouTube right now and watch it!!!) Then we had them share the thoughts and impressions that came to their mind! WOW! The Spirit truly touched us all! We committed them to write down what they were going to do to be more diligent. Then I read this quote, by Elder Jeffery R. Holland,

 

"You only get one chance to serve a mission. It is your responsibility, your duty, to use it to its fullest; to give every last once of energy until you collapse in exhaustion at the end of it. All the hardship, all the tears, all the work will be looked back upon as the best thing you have ever done; not because you enjoyed it, not because you baptized everyone, but because you gave everything you had, especially when you didn't want to. Live you mission to its fullest. Work harder than you ever have before. Let people know that this is the most important thing in the world to you. If you do not run until you have nothing left to give and then keep going anyway; cry and pray and work and sweat and plead until you are so drained that all you can do is turn to the Lord - if you do not do this then these people will not come to this joy because of you. Their failure to come to Christ will be partially upon your head. Come out of your mission proud of what you've done and this experience will bless the rest of your life."

 

There was a powerful Spirit there. I forgot to mention that there were 40 missionaries at this training and the New Mission President and his wife just happened to come as well. It was truly an amazing experience. One for which I am so grateful for.

 

After our ZTM we rushed back to Boulder to get ready for Caitlyn's Baptism!!! The person filling the fount didn't come, but we had time to fill it! There was so many people we had to move into the chapel for the service. All the missionaries who taught her came and even President and Sister Snow were there. It was a great service. She was beaming the entire time. While she was changing we had everyone write her a little note and we put them all together to give to her at the end of the service. All the Young Women sang "As Sisters in Zion" - it was beautiful! She bore her testimony afterwards. It was the sweetest thing ever!!

 

After the Baptism we were all in the gym for a little munch and mingle. All of the sudden I thought I was going to pass out and I felt really nauseous. I saw a couple sister missionaries and told them I wasn't feeling well I made it to the bathroom and just fell to the floor. Everything sounds so tunnelly and I felt horrible. They went and grabbed Bishop Taggard and President Snow. They helped me off the floor into the Relief Society room to give me a Priesthood blessing. I didn't hear anything they said in the blessing. I was just trying to sit up and not fall over. They had me lay on the floor in the Relief Society room. Sister Taggard brought me some food and sat there with me for about an hour. Then we went back to the Bishop's house. I was throwing up the whole time and started to have a low fever.

 

That evening I went home and went to bed, but I was up every hour throwing up and tossing and turning. Going from freezing cold to burning hot. I stayed home from church on Sunday with a 101 fever that was only kept down when I was taking medicine. There was another sister missionary in Boulder City that was sick so she stayed in with me while our companions got to together to go to both wards and work that night. It was a miserable day. Lou came to church though! He stayed all three hours and LOVED it!!!

 

Monday I spent all day floating between the Peterson's and Lopan's home while my companion had her Pday and worked in our area. It was nice to rest because I still wasn't holding food down. President Peterson is our Stake President here. When he got home on Monday night he gave me another blessing. It was one of the most spiritual moments of my mission. I am so grateful for God's power here on the Earth today! I know that the Gospel truly has been restored!!! I am so grateful for the knowledge and to be able to share that with others!

 

Tuesday I was bounced around to different members houses. Still very weak, but holding it together.

 

Today, Wednesday, I have been home resting and going stir crazy! Still feeling weak, but doing much much better!!

 

That's my weeks update. Such great miracles and blessings happened! It's hard to be sick and be a missionary, but I am grateful that my companion has been able to work and keep the area going!

 

Thank you for all your prayers! I feel them and I need them! When times get hard, I remember all of you who are praying for me and it truly gives me strength! I love you and miss you so much!!!!

Love,

 

Sister Davis

 

P.S. I'll send pics from the 4th of July and the Baptism next week!!